Tokyo Olympics: Swimming prodigy Cheuk Ming-ho coming close to achieving the qualifying standard – ‘I just want to make it’
- The 19-year-old betters his 200 metres freestyle record and is now 0.6 seconds outside the Olympic entry standard
- Cheuk will use split times in the 400 metres as he has another go on Sunday, while star swimmer Siobhan Haughey will swim in the Hong Kong women’s 4x100 medley relay
Fast improving Cheuk Ming-ho will have another crack at reaching the Olympic Games A qualifying standard on Sunday after coming close to making the grade in the men’s 200 metres freestyle at Victoria Park on Saturday.
Competing on the opening day of the Division I long course competition, the 19-year-old prodigy clocked one minute and 47.61 seconds to win his event, the third time he has broken the Hong Kong record in three months. He was a little over half a second slower than the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:47.02 but he feels he’s coming close to the mark.
Cheuk will have another attempt at the mark in Sunday’s competition, but this time the teenager will try to achieve the feat in the 400 metres freestyle, where he hopes to clock it during the split times.
So far, no Hong Kong male swimmer has ever achieved the Olympic A qualifying standard.
“My plan was to achieve the target in today’s race and even though I came close and bettered my own Hong Kong record, the result was still a bit disappointing,” said the promising freestyle specialist. “I was too tense in the first 100 metres and even if I swam a good second half, I couldn’t reach the target.